Autodesk unveils 2012 manufacturing software portfolio

"No product design and development challenge is too complex to overcome when you combine the 3D mechanical design capabilities of Autodesk Inventor with Autodesk visualization and simulation software," asserts Buzz Kross, senior vice president, manufacturing industry group at Autodesk. "Our customers need to create remarkable products more efficiently [and] the new Autodesk Product Design Suite makes it easier for manufacturers to adopt digital prototyping workflows to achieve this goal." Autodesk Product Design Suite includes the firm's design, visualisation and simulation software for manufacturers, and is, says Kross, easier to deploy, maintain and manage than stand-alone products. For 2012, Autodesk is now offering three levels – Standard, Premium or Ultimate. Standard includes AutoCAD Mechanical, Autodesk Showcase, Autodesk SketchBook Designer, Autodesk Vault and Autodesk Mudbox software. Premium adds Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk 3ds Max Design software, while Ultimate also includes Autodesk Inventor Professional and Autodesk Alias Design software. In brief detail, new software from Autodesk includes: AutoCAD Electrical 2012 software, which expands support for international standards and allows electrical controls designers to view, edit and share DWG files on web browsers or mobile devices through AutoCAD WS . AutoCAD Mechanical 2012 software, which now enables editing 3D models from any source with Inventor Fusion, and intelligent drawing view creation with a new model documentation feature. Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012 visualisation software, which allows designers to demonstrate designs in real-world settings, providing aggregation of CAD data and transforming digital prototypes into quality visuals. Autodesk Alias 2012 products ? Alias Design, Alias Surface and Alias Automotive software ? which the firm says make it easier to create accurate 3D models with Class-A surfaces, with modelling tools that are dramatically easier to use. Autodesk Inventor 2012, now with: easier ways to interact with 3D mechanical design data; better sharing, accepting and updating of CAD data regardless of source and complexity; and high-impact performance and productivity improvements. Autodesk Showcase 2012 visualisation software, said to transform CAD data into imagery, movies and interactive presentations to improve design review processes. And Autodesk Simulation 2012 software, previously known as Autodesk Algor Simulation, which now offers an all-new user interface, as well as Autodesk Vault integration, introducing new revision management capabilities for easier management of design and engineering information.